Spartans get set for D3 state final

Jeff Newhall has been the girls basketball coach at St. Mary?s for nine years, and he says two victories stand out among all of them in that span.?One of them was in 2011 when we beat Pentucket (in the Division 3 North semifinal,” he said, “and the other one is Tuesday?s (against Archbishop Williams).?They were two teams that we haven?t had a lot of success with over the years,” said Newhall, “but in both cases, we found a way to win.”As a result of Tuesday?s win, the Spartans will be playing Saturday at the DCU Center in Worcester for their second state title in four years. Their foe, Hoosac Valley, is a mirror image, Newhall says.?They?re similar to us in that they don?t have a ton of size,” Newhall says. “They basically play three guards, and they have a fourth one who could be considered a guard.?I don?t know all that much about them,” he said. “They like to play a fast-paced game. Their guards shoot the ball very well, and they like to do a lot of full-court trapping on defense.”Like the Spartans, the Hurricanes had to sweat out their opponent Tuesday, Bellingham, in the Central-West final. They jumped out to a big lead on the strength of forward/guard Megan Rodowicz? 13 points, and then had to endure a furious comeback by Bellingham to escape with a 54-52 win. While it might not have followed the same formula as St. Mary?s 47-45 win over Williams Tuesday, it was close enough. Both games hung in the balance until the very end.Senior guard Jenn Gale was also effective for Hoosac. The 5-6 senior had 12 points along with 5-11 junior forward Emily Rosse.Junior point guard McKenzie Robinson and sophomore guard/forward Mady Ryan had three assists each.St. Mary?s will, of course, counter with its own troika of senior stars. The Spartans will no doubt look toward senior Brianna Rudolph to lead them, but both Jennie Mucciarone and Sharell Sanders shoulder a lot of the load too.Rudolph, says Newhall, defies comparison with anyone else.?When you look at her career, and then look at what she did in the post-season, I don?t know if you have anyone we can compare her with at this point,” he said.Rudolph missed more than half of her sophomore season after breaking her leg, yet still eclipsed the 1,000-career-point mark in February.Newhall says the team is playing with a purpose that comes with both observation and bitter experience.?We had a good year last year (20-2 regular-season record),” he said, “but I don?t think we played with a lot of urgency in the tournament last year, and it cost us.”Also, he said, English?s loss to Braintree in the Division 1 state semifinal reinforced the notion that once you lose in the tournament, regardless of what kind of regular season you?ve had, there?s no tomorrow.?English had a great season and they lost to a great team,” said Newhall. “But I think when you have a team in the same city, that you?re familiar with, and they were 25-0, you see that they can be beaten. And it?s a wakeup call. When you see someone that good, and that close to you, go down, you know anything?s possible.”St. Mary?s learned that last year, too, when it lost to Watertown in the North semifinal. But one more year of maturity has enabled the Spartans to do whatever is necessary to win.?Jennie deserves a lot of credit,” Newhall said, “She showed great perseverance (in the Williams game). She didn?t score, but she took a huge charge and got nine rebounds. Those are the things that go unnoticed sometimes. Also, I have to say that 95 percent of the time we gave the ball to Brianna, she was coming off screens that Jennie set. When you?re not going good offensively, some people choose to let that be the way it?s going to be, and some people try to find another way. And Jennie was a perfect example of that.”Newhall also spoke about the other two starters: Gianna Moschella and Kayla Carter.?Gianna struggled a bit with a knee injury,” Newhall said. “But in this playoff run, she dominated Fenwick?s leading scorer and then she covered (